Upgrade brings faster broadband

Telecom is putting the finishing touches on installing or upgrading 35 faster broadband cabinets in Hawke's Bay while local leaders are supporting Unison Network's entry into the fibre-optic technology market.
The national telecommunication company said it was now 12 months into its programme to provide the new cabinet technology to the Bay as part of its overall initiative to improve the national broadband network.
In the Bay, it had laid 30km of fibre during the past year. A total of 107 cabinets and 90km of new fibre are planned for the region by the end of 2011, building on the 348km of fibre already in Telecom's network.
More than 900,000 homes and businesses around New Zealand were now within reach of fast broadband access via either telephone exchange or cabinet-based ADSL2+ equipment.
It represented about half of the 1.8 million homes and businesses connected by Chorus, Telecom's network access business.
Chorus said it was upgrading or installing about 3600 cabinets and laying 2500km of fibre optic cable around New Zealand as part of its plan to delivery broadband connections between 10Mbps and 20Mbps to 80 per cent of New Zealanders by the end of 2011.
Customers within 2km of an upgraded cabinet should be able to connect at faster ADSL2+ broadband speeds, subject to other factors including their broadband plan and wiring in their home or business.
Greymouth and Taupo were the first towns in New Zealand to have their exchange and cabinet upgrades completed. Work was under way in a further 20 towns and cities around New Zealand.
Meanwhile, Hastings and Napier mayors are backing electricity lines company Unison Networks as Hawke's Bay's local fibre optic company, providing broadband services for the region.
Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule and Napier Mayor Barbara Arnott said Unison was a community-owned lines network and they welcomed its decision to enter the telecommunications market.
Unison announced last week it planned to roll out broadband across the region and to provide high-speed broadband services.
Under the proposed Government policy, the Hastings-Napier area would be eligible to attract funding for installing fibre-optic network for ultra-fast broadband.
Mr Yule said Unison's announcement confirmed the region had a willing and able locally-owned fibre company to deliver ultra-fast broadband.
The mayors said a group representing business, education, health and local government across the region had already met to work with Unison's broadband programme.
 

Unison's programme would provide opportunities for retail competition for broadband and other telecommunication services.
The mayors said Unison had the capacity to deliver a regional broadband service. The government was expected to announce a policy on rural broadband early next week.